Up to the Mountain to Pray

Many thanks to Randy Harris for taking time from his busy schedule to come inspire us at our summer retreat. For those of you who were there, you know the blessing it was to hear Randy. He has a great gift for communicating God's truth in fresh and challenging ways.

If some of us look a little drowsy this AM, it’s from too many late night conversations in Bergton at the retreat center. They weren't quite all-nighters, but certainly all of us have "pulled an all-nighter" or two through the years. Usually it is something very urgent: a school paper or a work project that has come down to the last minute. There is a sense of urgency, and we know it’s time to pull an all-nighter to address this pressing need.

Imagine feeling that way about prayer. We have records of Jesus pulling all-nighters, and it was to pray. The pattern of city to desert, desert to city is a good one to use to describe this...Jesus is in ministry in the city or around the town and then the next thing you know, he is up all night at the mountain praying!! How about that for an all-nighter?

Here are some Scriptures that speak of it:

Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone . . .

Mark 6:46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

Luke 9:28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.

Bergton is perhaps not a "desert," but it certainly is a wilderness compared to the urban, belt-way existence we all lead here in Northern Virginia. So, as a church that just came from the mountainside, hopefully we return with a sense of urgency that things in our spiritual life simply cannot wait or be put off any longer. Perhaps we will be inspired to pull a proverbial all-nighter or two because of it...and if we do, ironically, we will emerge from those sessions with souls less tired and more rested than ever.

Mark and Matt

God’s Will—Character and Service

First I was a Bible major. Then I was a Bible-Psychology Double Major. Then it was just Psychology. Finally, I graduated with a degree in Political Science, only to start working at a bank. After a couple of years at the bank, I went back to school to certify to teach. I taught for six years, and then switched to the very similar career of diplomacy. Along the way, I've worked in a poultry processing plant, sold photography packages over the phone, managed political campaigns, served as a Marine Corps machine gunner, made salsa, and received a commission as a Navy Reserve Public Affairs Officer. And I still don't really know what I want to be when I grow up! On the bright side, I do know whose I want to be.

There are a lot of important questions in life: What should I study? What should my career(s) be? Who should I marry? Do I want fries with that? For Christians, there is one overriding question: What is God's will for me?

Paul examines this question in Romans 12. He writes about God's will for both our character and our service. Everything else flows from those two concerns. If you are first concerned with God's plan for you as a person, then you can move on to determining if you should work in a chicken factory, an office, a restaurant, or a fox hole - and if you want fries with that.

Dana Deree

Hands Too Full?

I ran across a quote this week in C.S. Lewis’ writings: “God wants to give us something but cannot because our hands are full and there is no where for him to put it” (St. Augustine of Hippo).

As we look to our summer retreat, perhaps we would do well to repeat Augustine’s ancient words to ourselves and see if there is any truth in them for us. Our hands certainly are full in Northern Virginia, and it’s easy to see the retreat as one more thing, one more event on an already crowded calendar. If this retreat is just one more thing to “do” then certainly none of us have time for it….our hands or plates, are simply too full.

Lewis suggested that we often view God as an airman regards his parachute. It’s there for emergencies, but he hopes he will never have to use it. That analogy fits all too well with the busy lives most of us lead. We know God is there for us but he does not really expect we will call on him other than in extreme emergencies.

Yet God made us, so he has some insider information about what we need. In a way, it’s a strange truth that he as the creator knows, but we (the created) often do not see ourselves. He knows we will not seek him as long as he leaves us any other resort where happiness can plausibly be found. As Lewis puts it, “As long as what we call ‘our own life’ remains rewarding and agreeable, we won’t surrender to him. So God knows he must, at times, make our own lives less agreeable to us and take away any of those false sources of happiness.”

“It is here,” Lewis continues, “that God and his providence seems most cruel. Yet reality is that this stooping down of the most high to take interest in our true happiness is perhaps the most remarkable and deserving of praise.”

Is Augustine correct? Are my hands too full to accept what God has to give me? God wants our attention and, as Lewis suggests, he will eventually get it by removing things we have come to depend on. If that is the case, then this retreat seems to me an exceptionally kind way of God asking for our attention. He asks us to take a day and go and rest and reflect together. In a way it’s not much to ask… but then again, to ask for one of my busy weekends…it’s not very easy either.

Mark

May the Fourth Be With You

Many years ago I was watching a Daffy Duck cartoon and Daffy was in a sword fight. In the middle of the fight, as it looked like he was sure to lose, he suddenly asked the character he was fighting, "What is the date?" The other character looked surprised and confused by the off-the-wall question and said, "It's May the fourth." Daffy looked back at his adversary, pulled up his hood so he looked like Obi Wan Kenobi and said, "Then May the Fourth be with you!"

That was a big moment for me because it supplied me with one joke a year for the rest of my life. I have used it so often with so many different people throughout the years that I now get e-mails every May the 4th from loads of people trying to beat me to the punch. I am writing this on May the fourth...but by the time you read this on the 6th, the old joke will be mothballed away till next year.

As we enter into the summer months we need The Force to be with us. Summer ends up being a whirlwind of events, trips, visitors...vacation quickly gives way to something that is far less than relaxing. That's why our summer retreat is such a great way to start the summer. You still have three weeks to sign up. It's just a day and a night, not a huge commitment, but it is a great opportunity to hear Randy Harris encourage us to allow the Force to be with us through a busy summer. Our Force is something far greater than whatever it was that caused Luke Skywalker and Yoda to levitate in the movies...it is the power of the living God.

In the coming weeks we will use our sermon time to prepare ourselves for our retreat. After that, we will enter into a summer series called “A Summer in the Psalms.” If you have not done so yet, I encourage you to sign up for the retreat and join our family at Springfield as we prepare for a busy but great summer.

Mark

Great Science Apologetics Site

I've been a big fan of "science apologetics" for a long time. With my science and medical training, I particularly appreciate the work of Reasons To Believe for its scientifically and theologically rigorous approach and how well they have been able to harmonize the "book of nature" with the book of scripture. Check them out at www.reasons.org and have your faith tremendously uplifted with Reasons to Believe.


Dave